Photo compliments:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scroll.jpg
Hi all
I've been doing some reading on the History of Literature itself. Quite contrary to what I believe(d), the Bible is not the first recorded compilation of writing. For a matter of fact, the Pentateuch, i.e, the Books of Law is only dated back to the 15th century B.C, while the earliest recorded Literature, Epic of Gilgamesh, is dated to 2000 B.C, 500 years before.
Ancient Egyptian writing such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead (also known as "Spells of Coming" or "Going forth by Day") were not at first recognized as "Literature". This was because Egyptian hieroglyphics were very difficult to decipher. However, with the decoding of the Rosetta stone, many ancient Egyptian scrolls could be translated.
Other early writings included Greek pieces such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey dated to the eighth century B.C.
Much of the early works discovered were religious, and now form parts of what we now know as The Holy Bible. Others are writings, more specifically poems, which revolve around heroes of ancient society. For example, Homer's Odyssey's central figure is the Greek hero Odysseus.
There is much information that has been discovered about ancient Literature and its development over the years. But most of the writings themselves have no real significance in our lives today. The true significance of what was then is that these ancient writings served as the foundation on which the Literature that we now treasure today was built up on. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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